GSM/GPRS/EDGE Basic

Principles
Objective

 At the end of this course, you will be able to:

 Learn GSM development history
 Learn and master network structure of GSM system
and functions & principles of different portions
 Learn and be familiar with GSM wireless channel and
protocol
 Learn and be familiar with main service call process for
GSM
Contents
 Chap.1: GSM Overview
 Chap.2: GSM Network Structure
 Chap.3: Interfaces and Protocols
 Chap.4: GSM Radio Channel
 Chap.5: Basic Service and Signaling Process
 Chap.6: Voice Processing and Key Radio Technology
 Chap.7: GPRS and EDGE
 GSM Overview

 This chapter mainly introduces some basic information for GSM,

including GSM development history, supported service type,
specification, and system features.
 GSM Basic Concepts
 Services Supported by GSM System
 GSM Specification

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 GSM Overview

 This section introduces network structure of GSM system and

basic functions of various NEs.
 GSM Area Division Concepts
 GSM composition
 Mobile Switching System (MSS)
 Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
 Operation & Maintenance Subsystem (OMS)
 Mobile Station (MS)
 GSM System Number

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 GSM Area Division Concepts

Relationship between Areas in GSM

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 GSM composition

PSTN

Um A IBM

Interfac IBM
Interf
e ace MS

MS
Other
BSS MSS
PLMN

GSM System Composition

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 Mobile Switching System (MSS)

 The MSS consists of such entities as the mobile switching center

(MSC), home location register (HLR), visitor location register
(VLR), equipment identity register (EIR), authentication center
(AUC) and short message center (SMC).

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 Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

 BSS serves as a bridge between the NSS and MS. It performs

wireless channel management and wireless transceiving. The BSS
includes the Base Station Controller (BSC) and Base Transceiver
Station (BTS).

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 Operation & Maintenance Subsystem (OMS)

 The OMS consists of two parts: Operation & Maintenance Center

– System (OMC-S) and OMC-Radio (OMC-R). The OMC-S serves
the NSS, while the OMC-R serves the BSS.

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 Mobile Station (MS)

 The MS consists of mobile terminals and Subscriber Identity

Module (SIM) card.

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 GSM System Number

 GSM system number contains:

 Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number (MSISDN)
 International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
 Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number (MSRN)
 Handover Number
 Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identification (TMSI)
 Location Area Identification (LAI)

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 GERAN interfaces

 This chapter introduces GERAN interfaces, User plane/control

plane protocol stack at PS and CS.
 Interfaces
 PS-Domain Protocol Stack
 CS-Domain Protocol Stack

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 Interfaces

GSM interfaces

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 PS-Domain Protocol Stack

User plane protocol stack at PS domain

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 PS-Domain Protocol Stack

Control plane protocol stack at PS domain

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 CS-Domain Protocol Stack

User plane protocol stack at CS domain

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 CS-Domain Protocol Stack

Control plane protocol stack at CS domain

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 GSM Working Frequency Band

 This section introduces GSM radio frame, channel concept,

division & function for different channels, mapping combination
mechanism between channels.
 GSM Working Frequency Band
 Structure of GSM Radio Frame
 Physical Channel and Logical Channel
 System Messages

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 GSM Working Frequency Band

 Currently, the GSM communication system works at 900MHz,

extended 900MHz and 1800MHz. 1900MHz band is adopted in
some countries.

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 Structure of GSM Radio Frame

 There are five layers for structure of GSM radio frame, that is,
timeslot, TDMA frame, multiframe, super frame, and hyper frame.

1 hyper frame = 2048 super frames =2715648 TDMA frame

1 hyper frame = 1326 TDMA frame (6.12s)

(=51 (26 frames) multi-frames or 26 (51 frames) multi-frames

1 (26 frames) multi-frame = 26 TDMA frame (120ms) 1 (51 frames) multi-frame = 51 TDMA frame (3036/13 ms)

TDMA Frame

Hierarchical frame structure in GSM system

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 Physical Channel and Logical Channel

 GSM uses TDMA and FDMA technologies for physical channel, as

shown in the figure below.

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 System Messages

 System message falls into 12 types: type1, 2, 2bis, 2ter, 3, 4, 5,

5bis, 5ter, 6, 7, 8.

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 Basic Service and Signaling Process

 This section introduces GSM terminal start, position register /

update, service call and handover service implementation and
signaling interaction process.
 Mobile subscriber state
 Location Update
 Typical Call and Handover Process
 Basic Signaling Process

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 Mobile subscriber state

 The mobile subscriber has three states as follows:

 MS starts, network does "Attach" marks on it
 MS shutdowns, separated from network
 MS Busy

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 Location Update

Location Update at Same MSC Office

Location update between different MSCs

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 Typical Call and Handover Process

Call process

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 Typical Call and Handover Process

Handover process

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 Basic Signaling Process
MS BTS BSC M SC
CH REQ
CH RQD
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：LOC UPD REQ
CC
DT1：CIPH M ODE CM D
ENCRY CM D
CIPH M ODE CM D
CIPH M ODE COM
DI：CIPH M ODE COM
DT1：CIPH M ODE COM

DTAP ：LOC UPD ACCEPT

DT1：Clear CM D
DT1：Clear COM
DR：CH REL
CH REL RLSD
DEACT SACCH
DISC RLC
REL IND
UA
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

Location Update Process of MS

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 Basic Signaling Process

MS BTS BSC M SC
CH REQ
CH RQD
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：IM SI DETACH
CREF
DR：CH REL
CH REL
DEACT SACCH
DISC
REL IND
UA
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

IMSI Detach Process

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 MS BTS BSC M SC
CH REQ
CH RQD
CH ACT

Basic Signaling Process

CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：CM SERV REQ
CC
DT1：CIPH M ODE CM D
ENCRY CM D
CIPH M ODE CM D
CIPH M ODE COM
DI：CIPH M ODE COM
DT1：CIPH M ODE COM

DTAP:CM SERV ACCP

DTAP:SETUP

DTAP:CALL PROC

DT1:ASS REQ
PHY CONT REQ

Mobile-Originated Call and Called

PHY CONT CONF
CH ACT

Party On-hook Process ASS CM D

CH ACT ACK
DR：ASS CM D

SABM
EST IND
UA
ASS COM DI：ASS COM
DT1：ASS COM
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

DTAP ：Alerting
DTAP ：Connect
DTAP ：Connect ACK
数据流
DTAP ：Disconnect
DTAP ：Release
DTAP ：Release COM
DT1：Clear CM D
DR：CH REL
CH REL DT1：Clear COM
DEACT SACCH
DISC RLSD
REL IND
UA RLC
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

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 MS BTS BSC M SC

PAG CM D UDT ：PAG

PAG REQ
CH REQ

Basic Signaling Process

CH RQD
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：PAG RES
CC
DT1：CIPH M ODE CM D
ENCRY CM D
CIPH M ODE CM D
CIPH M ODE COM
DI：CIPH M ODE COM
DT1：CIPH M ODE COM

DTAP:SETUP

DTAP:CALL CONF

DT1:ASS REQ
PHY CONT REQ
PHY CONT CONF

Mobile-Terminated Call and CH ACT

CH ACT ACK

Calling Party On-hook Process ASS CM D

DR：ASS CM D

SABM
EST IND
UA
ASS COM
DI：ASS COM
DT1：ASS COM
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

DTAP ：Alerting
DTAP ：Connect
DTAP ：Connect ACK
数据流
DTAP ：Disconnect
DTAP ：Release
DTAP ：Release COM
DT1：Clear CM D
DR：CH REL
CH REL DT1：Clear COM
DEACT SACCH
DISC RLSD
REL IND
UA RLC
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

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 Basic Signaling Process

MS BTS1 BTS2 BSC M SC

M EAS REP
M EAS RES
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
DR：HO CM D
HO CM D
HO ACCESS
HO DET
PHY INFO
SABM
EST IND
UA

HO COM
DI：HO COM
DT1：HO PERF
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

Inter-cell Handover Process

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 key radio enhanced technologies

 This section describes basic voice processing for GSM, and

several key radio enhanced technologies.
 Voice Processing
 Frequency multiplexing
 Adaptive equalizing
 Diversity Receiving
 Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)
 Power Control
 Timing Advance
 Frequency Hopping Technology

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 Voice Processing

Voice Processing in the GSM System

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 Frequency multiplexing

Frequency multiplexing is the core concept of the cellular mobile

radio system. In a frequency multiplexing system, users at
different geographical locations (different cells) can use channels
of the same frequency at the same time (see the figure above).

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 Adaptive equalizing

 Equalizer can do equalizing at frequency domain and time

domain. GSM uses time domain equalizing, enabling the better
performance in whole system.

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 Diversity Receiving

 Diversity reception technology is commonly used in GSM.

Diversity consists of different forms: Space diversity, frequency
diversity, time diversity and polarity diversity.

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 Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)

 The DTX mode accomplishes two objectives: Lower the total

interference level in the air and save the transmitter power.

Speech Frame Transmission in DTX Mode

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 Power Control

 Power control means to control the actual transmitting power

(keep it as low as possible) of MS or BS in radio propagation, so
as to reduce the power consumption of MS/BS and the
interference of the entire GSM network.

Power Control Process

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 Timing Advance

 In the GSM, the MS requires three intervals between timeslots

when receiving or transmitting signals. See the figure below.

Uplink and Downlink Offset of TCH

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 Frequency Hopping Technology

 Frequency hopping (FH) refers to hopping of the carrier

frequency within a wide frequency band according to a certain
sequence.

Basic Structure of FH

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 section describes evolution of GSM technologies

 This section describes evolution of GSM technologies: basic

concept, network structure, radio channel, and basic application
of GPRS and EDGE.
 Definition and Feature
 Inheritance and Evolution
 GPRS Radio Channel
 Radio Link and Media Access Control Flow
 Terminal and Application

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 Definition and Feature

 The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is the packet data

service introduced in GSM Phase2+.
 The GPRS has the following features:
 Seamless connection with IP network
 High rate
 Always online and flow charging
 Mature technology

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 Definition and Feature

 Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) is a kind of

technology for transition of GSM to 3G.
 The EDGE has the following features:
 EDGE neither changes GSM or GPRS network structure nor introduces new
network element, but only upgrades the BSS.
 EDGE does not change the GSM channel structure, multiframe structure and
coding structure.
 EDGE supports two data transmission modes: packet service (non-real time
service) and circuit switching service (real time service).
 EDGE adopts octal 8PSK modulation technology, supports 303% of GMSK
payload, and provides higher bit rate and spectral efficiency.
 Compared with GPRS, EDGE adopts new coding mode.

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 GPRS Radio Channel

 This section introduces GPRS physical channel, GPRS logic

channel, mapping of logical channel combination in the physical
channel, and GPRS channel coding.

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 Radio Link and Media Access Control Flow

 This section introduces paging flow, TBF setup flow, GPRS

suspend/resume flow, and TBF release flow.

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 Terminal and Application

 The GPRS MSs fall into three categories: Type A, B, and C.

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